DEEP IN THE HEART OF . . . WIMBLEDON?

Put a piece of barn straw in the corner of Kevin Curren`s mouth and some ranch residue on his sneakers and he could pass for a Texan. Shore `nuff.

Tall, he is, with a straight back and cheeks that can`t hide a chew. He fits under a Stetson or on top of a horse like he was borned to it, which he wasn`t, coming as he did from South Africa.

Of course, everybody in Texas comes from someplace else most recent, and if you hold that against him, you got to send Waylon and Willie back to Nashville.

No one will say that Akeem Abdul Olajuwon is anything but pure Lone Star these days, and them college Germans the Dallas Mavericks drafted for basketball already got Winchester belt buckles.

Curren`s got that hardscrabble face you could strike a wood match on and eyes the color of Galveston Bay. Nobody would ever kick him out of the Rangers or off an oil rig on looks.

Ol` Kevin, why he just whomped the stuffing clean out of Jimbo Connors, throwed arrows right at his heart with a serve faster than apple jack quickstep and harder than Santa Ana`s heart. Now he`s fixing to play for the world singles championship of tennis against some foreigner who probably uses a hanky when he eats barbeque.

And we can`t forget Martina ''Missy'' Navratilova while we`re talking about Texans. Missy was in the gals` final again, making all the folks in Dallas right proud that one of their own was doing good as usual. Can`t say much for her biscuits, though. She`s still having some trouble with them.

Nobody hardly remembers anymore that Missy first come to Texas from Czechoslovakia. Shoot, they couldn`t even spell it if they did.

They know she`s out there rooting for the Cowboys when she ain`t winning one of them big gravy dishes at Wimbledon, and Tom Landry knows her on sight. Missy had to beat Zina Garrison to get to play Chris Evert Lloyd again, and young Zina growed up her whole life in Houston. Zina didn`t do half bad for a while there, making Navratilova sweat unsightly.

There was two Texas women in the semis and one in the finals and that was more than the whole country of England got through the third round, even though the Brits have all year to practice at Wimbledon.

Yep, this was a real good two weeks for Texas over `cross the pond playing that game with open-air paddles so much favored by folks with two pick-up trucks in their garage.

It was left to Texas to save America`s chitlings at Wimbledon and no one from Texas never said no to a dare, even a new Texan who become one on purpose.

It don`t matter it was a Texan who put John McEnroe and Connors on the boat home, since they had equal chances to do the same to Ol` Kevin. And it don`t matter that the eagle on their passports is older than Curren`s.

Lucky there is somebody from the U.S. of A. to step in until some tennis factory in Florida or California turns out a prodigy like them Swedes are doing.

''In my heart, deep, deep down, I`m still a South African,'' Curren said, which would be easier to believe if he used his own lyrics.

He lives in Austin and is a certified Longhorn. Curren won the NCAAs playing for the University of Texas, but he didn`t draw so much notice doing that in 1979 as he did beating Stefan Edberg, McEnroe and Connors back to back to back this week.

Jimbo didn`t think much of Ol` Kevin. Acted like he was something you scrape off the blade of a back hoe.

''Everybody has his day,'' Connors said. ''Let`s see him do it in his next tournament and the next one.

''He just throws the ball up and boom. Boom, boom, boom all the time. When`s he`s hot, he`s hot.

''On grass, his serve is jumping in your face or staying low or crawling along the ground.''

Jimbo was only able to get 10 of Curren`s serves back and get only five points off them. And Jimbo hisself served like he was hanging out a wash.

''Playing great at Wimbledon is great,'' Jimbo said, ''but he`s got a reputation to uphold now. He has to handle it. Consistency is what`s expected of him now.''

Now, Ol` Kevin, he allows how Jimbo might have a point, but he`s still playing and Jimbo ain`t.

''I don`t feel consistent enough to be in the top five in the world,''

Curren said, though being No. 9 ain`t exactly like eating beans every day.

''But I think on grass I can beat anybody.

''I`m just not gifted enough to be great on all surfaces. I`m too tall and too thin to move well on slower surfaces. If I serve well, not many guys will be able to return it.''

So, Curren is a little spotty. Practically anonymous, too. But he seen his chance and he took it, just like Sam Houston did.

There is one little thing about Curren that might bother some people who been Texans longer than him. Oh, he`ll drink beer from a long-neck bottle and he don`t play city music on the hi-fi all the time.

Seems he likes to hunt. Only trouble is, he don`t ever kill anything. He goes out in the bush and takes pictures of animals. Shoots `em with a camera. Now that`s all very nice, but no picture of a wild boar ever looked as good on the wall as its head.

When he gets back to Austin, somebody`s going to have to have a talk with that boy.